kingsrot-atthegates-reviews

Review from Blasted by Britton

Fri, 31 Jan 2025 19:55:57 +0100

From: Blasted by Britton

Published: January 11, 2025

Oh, Canada! I love our neighbors to the North! Well, I’m from Michigan so some of Canada actually lies South of me, but I love that country. It’s nice to see they got their postal service up and running again! And survived our asshat soon-to-be President saying he wants to take Canada for his own. What a clown. Since I started reviewing again, I have had a lot of Canadian Metal albums come my way. I mean, like a lot. Almost all of them have been good, as is the case with Kings Rot’s newest full-length album “At The Gates Of Adversarial Darkness”.

While they claim to be Black Metal, which they definitely are, the music on this newest album is very heroic and epic sounding bordering on a sort of Black/Viking Metal to me, and I love that music. Mithoyn, Einherjer and the like. Fast drumming, fast dissonant guitars and a good bass presence lends to an overall feeling of heroism. The band is very into Tolkien and other fantasy and maybe that’s where the heroic atmosphere comes from. All three band members seem like seasoned musicians, and they have crafted an album that has great songwriting and musicianship.

The vocals are almost totally Blackened but there are times when B.W. uses a very guttural Death Metal vocal style that I like. By the way, “B.W”. are my first and middle initials. Maybe we are related? No? Okay, on we go… Like I stated above, the lyrics weave dark tales of Fantasy and Tolkien’s novels. I’ve said it most of my life and I’ll say it now: The Lord Of The Rings and The Hobbit novels will probably never be topped and most likely the movies never will either. J.R.R. Tolkien is a great source material for Metal.

The production on “At The Gates Of Adversarial Darkness” is top notch, and that seems par for the course for albums released by Hypnotic Dirge.

The artwork is one of the better ones I’ve seen in a while and is taken right out of The Lord Of the Rings. Done in hues of red and black it is a very dark and eerie scene of Mt. Doom. I can stare at that for hours. Great job by Misanthropic Art!

What are you waiting for? The armies of Sauron to come end you once and for all. Grab this album, some armor, a sword, axe or bow and join Kings Rot on their journey through dark and fantastical music! Maybe you will meet Tom Bombadil! If so, ask him why he wasn't in the movies.

Rating: 8.5/10

Review from Those Once Loyal

Fri, 31 Jan 2025 19:54:29 +0100

From: Those Once Loyal

Published: December 20, 2023

Original Link

The Canadian Rockies seems like a good place to find a Tolkien and darkness inspired black metal band lurking, and wouldn’t you know it, Kings Rot are just that band. Their newest record, ‘At the Gates of Adversarial Darkness’ is out now through Hypnotic Dirge Records, and while their excellent cover art looks like it was drawn from a 70s swords and sorcery novel, their music is a focused spearhead through your mithril chainmail.

Opener ‘Blazing Winds of Torment’ gives you an immediate taste of what to expect; dramatic windswept black metal, loaded with a fantastical setting and a real sense of the atmospheric storytelling that you’d expect from a Tokien-influenced band. Soaring melodies accompany a impassioned howling vocals, cascading drums pound their way across the vistas of ‘Twilight Breath Incantation’, while the stirringly bleak guitar tone cuts through the likes of ‘Last Dance for the Eternal Flame’ like Glamdring through orcflesh. Kings Rot do not let this fantastical influence take over however; each track still throbs with a ravaged burning darkness, patrolling grim skies of ash rather than crisp icy air. ‘Beneath the Hunters Moon’ is a great example of this, a dark and twisting cyclone of fiery traditionalism.

Much like the dragon on the cover art, there is a blackened grace to what Kings Rot do here, but there is no ambivalence as to what their true aim is. ‘At the Gates of Adversarial Darkness’ is a record of fiery black metal power, and while there are plenty of moments that stir even the coldest hearts to battle, the fantasy theme is still very much of a morbid kind. Remember, most of The Lord of the Rings was war, death, fire and black magic. Much like this record really.

Review from Angry Metal Guy

Fri, 31 Jan 2025 19:53:20 +0100

From: Angry Metal Guy

Published: December 10, 2023

Original Link

It’s been a fairly mediocre year for standard black metal in the House ov Ken. Most of the time, the good stuff hybridized with other things like death metal (Úlfúð), psychedelia (DHG), or power metal (Moonlight Sorcery). Alberta, Canada’s King’s Rot doesn’t quite change that, but they make a valiant effort of it with their sophomore outing, At the Gates of Adversarial Darkness. Its production marks a good start, perfectly straddling the fence between murky rawness and sparkling clarity. This in turn bolsters the quality of the music, which straddles the fence between melodicism and wretchedness. I’m most engaged whenever King’s Rot kick into high gear, evoking bands like Vimur and Imperialist, except this material prefers to revel in the hellish flames of the underworld rather than the coronas of distant stars (“Blazing Winds of Torment,” “At the Gates of Adversarial Darkness,” “Last Dance for the Eternal Flame”). However, they could use more of that perilous verve and swagger in those areas where the band take their sweet time building up to a blistering fury (as with the Cloak-esque “Twilight Breath Incantation” and “Obscure Awakenings”) in order to keep my interest rabid from start to finish. In sum, you could do much worse than At the Gates of Adversarial Darkness for your fiery, but chilling black metal fix.

Review from Metal Crypt

Fri, 31 Jan 2025 19:52:04 +0100

From: Metal Crypt

Published: October 16, 2023

Original Link

Second album from this Canadian band, who play a more melodic variety of Black Metal that has some in common with Slavonic-sounding acts like Groza or even some influences from more epic bands like Inquisition. Not as inventive as that would make that sound, this still has a good production with a lot of depth for the melodies to play in, and the songs keep things interesting with a lot of time changes and key shifts. The riffs are a bit too dependent on that scaling-up-and-down pattern that bands of this type sometimes fall into, but overall it keeps things energetic and visceral.

Rating: 4/5

Review from Musipedia of Metal

Tue, 10 Oct 2023 18:03:40 +0100

From: Musipedia of Metal

Published: October 10, 2023

Original Link

Canada produces some very atmospheric Black Metal to be sure and King’s Rot have been delivering the cold since 2017. Haunting vocals, catchy melody and large sweeping riffs abound on this their second full length, At The Gates Of Adversarial Darkness.

Opening track Blazing Winds Of Torment set the pace and vibe wonderfully with quiet atmospherics and the sounds of a large ancient door being dragged open and slammed shut again, chains and footsteps on cold stone follow, then the drawing of a blade and blasting of drums as the track starts proper. It's brief and I love little flourishes like this, it’s simple but effective and all together makes for a great opening track.

Album title track, At The Gates Of Adversarial Darkness opens with pounding drums and a classic “ugh” grunt. It’s galloping, intense approach topped with howling vocal delivery and razor swinging riffs. There is a clear driving force here, a collective purpose that permeates these songs with darkness and urgency. Twilight Breath Incantation and Beneath The Hunters Moon encapsulate this vibe with sheer intensity and dudes I am here for it. Then comes I Am The Door In Between that starts with a breath…a sigh and then blazes Black Metal right into your mind. It’s short but intense with a mesmerizing riff.

Final two tracks, Last Dance Of The Eternal Flame and A Burnt Offering For The Vermin King feel like a pair, especially as the end of Eternal Flame bleeds right into A Burnt Offering. Small details like this largely go unnoticed these days but can really help tie an album together. Last Dance is the main track on this album in my opinion, riff heavy and just this side of grandiose it rocks just right and will linger in your mind. Last track Vermin Lord brings the grim with the deepest vocals and some intense swirling riffage that fits the blasting drum work perfectly. A solid album closer.

Each of these songs is tight and well written with clear production that keeps the proceeding just grim enough without drowning out anything, all the darkness, none of the mud. On top of that only two of these tracks clock in under 5 minutes but not once did I notice or feel like a song was dragging on too long. Paired with human made cover art clearly inspired by the Gates of Mordor and a sweet vinyl release this adventure lands a solid

Rating: 7/10

Reviewed by: Erick Willand